Bird Control
Magpies, jays and crows are all expert nest finders and forepart of the year takes the eggs and young of small birds. Crows are likely to do so only in large, quiet gardens since they are very wary birds, but jays may do so in well-timbered areas and magpies almost anywhere. Since magpies cause more argument and more concern than almost any other garden predator—cats included–let us consider the case for and against them.
Magpies are partial and seasonal predators: for most of the year they feed mainly on invertebrates and a variety of other foods, and only rarely kill birds. Most probably never do so at all. Their nest-robbing activities occur over relatively short period and even then probably provide only a very small part of their diet. It is true that they may clean out a lot of nests in a small area, but their victims can withstand even heavy predation of this sort and will almost always move elsewhere and nest again. Any apparent decline or disappearance is, therefore, likely tube only temporary and in the long term the total numbers will not be affected. The situation is continuously monitored by the wildlife trusts and there is no evidence of a decline attributable to the activities of predators, and certainly none which correlates to increasing numbers of magpies.
As with sparrow hawks, so with magpies: you should learn to accept their nest raids as natural and inevitable, however much that may distress you at the moment when it happens. It is quite proper, of course, to take action against magpies and indeed jays and crows, using legal methods. However, magpie control is hardly justifiable in the majority of situations, although exceptional circumstances can sometimes make it necessary.
Nobody knows for certain when man consciously began to feed birds around his dwelling place, but it must have been going on for thousands of years—no doubt developing quite naturally through the habits of some species which scavenged around the homesteads. It may always have been done for purely altruistic reasons, but it has also been done to catch birds for keeping as pets or for the pot. Nowadays, feeding birds is standard practice in many countries.